Humans have been making steel in some form or other for over two millennia - and consistently re-using and recycling it along the way. This week on Sea Change Radio, we speak with Chathu Gamage from the Rocky Mountain Institute to learn more about the steel industry. We look back at the modern history of the steel market, examine the impact that China’s steel manufacturing dominance is having around the globe, and discuss some of the biggest challenges of making steel a net zero product.

Narrator | 00:02 - This is Sea Change Radio covering the shift to sustainability. I'm Alex Wise.

Chathu Gamage (CG) | 00:19 - When we talk about recycling, it is a bit of stock and flow, and what that really means is, do you have enough to have a recycling loop in the system? And the US is quite good at that because we've built that stock of recycling product over time. We've had buildings and we've had automotive things that use steel in our system for a long time that then come available again to be able to be recycled. And so the recycling rates are quite high, whereas in China, that market is still developing.

Narrator | 00:51 - Humans have been making steel in some form or other for over two millennia - and consistently re-using and recycling it along the way. This week on Sea Change Radio, we speak with Chathu Gamage from the Rocky Mountain Institute to learn more about the steel industry. We look back at the modern history of the steel market, examine the impact that China’s steel manufacturing dominance is having around the globe, and discuss some of the biggest challenges of making steel a net zero product.

Alex Wise (AW) | 01:30 - I am joined now on Sea Change Radio by Chathu Gamage. She's a principal at the Rocky Mountain Institute in the Climate-aligned Industries division. Chathu, welcome to Sea. Change. Radio,

 Chathu Gamage (CG)  | 01:50 - Great to be here.

Alex Wise (AW)  | 01:52 - So you and your colleagues produced a paper in March of 2023 entitled, forging a Clean Steel Economy in the United States. And I, and I wanted to break that down for our listeners because I don't think people really understand a lot of the permutations that go into the steel industry. Let's focus on the carbon footprint element of steel. There are goals to create a steel sector in this country that is net zero. What needs to happen to achieve that? It's not a pipe dream, is it?

 CG | 02:28 - No. And I think maybe just taking a couple of steps back, particularly in the US and when we think about the steel sector, um, it's been around for a long time, um, particularly around the Great Lakes region. It's where it's been, you know, predominantly and historically, uh, showcased. And as over the years and decades and different technologies have occurred, that processing method and the jobs and employment have sort of dwindled away from that region. And what's important to know is there's optionalities to bring that back, but it's, you know, a globally traded commodity. So taking kind of your first question about why do we care about steel, particularly within R M I and what I work on, and to decarbonize this sector, um, it's hugely emissions intensive. The way that steel is typically made is either one of two ways. You either can recycle it, it's, you know, essentially infinitely recyclable, um, or you make it from scratch. So by getting iron ore and uh, splitting that up with sort of Coke to produce a primary product, this primary product is more valuable in the market. It has, you know, less, uh, scrap material that goes into it when you make a final product and therefore that's where a lot of the emissions intensivity comes from because of this coal that's made.

 AW| 03:54 - So a lot of us are familiar with the steel boom in the US of the early 20th century, but why don't you get us up to speed with what's happened over the last few decades with China and how that plays into your calculations?

 CG | 04:09 - Yeah,